Fairytales of Yesterday
by padfootandprongsy76
Summary: In their final two years at school, the marauders begin to realise that nothing stays the same forever. Love is blossoming, NEWTs are coming up, the threat of war grows ever closer, and as their time together at Hogwarts draws to a close, difficult decisions about the future must be made.
1. Chapter 1 - The Potters

Chapter 1 – The Potters

Sirius had walked up the Potters' driveway more times than he could count over the years. Some of his happiest memories were here, during the few short summer weeks when he'd managed to escape his parents' house; he had run up to the front door when he was soaked after losing his footing on the riverbank, or grinning ear to ear after a successful prank.

Once, Sirius had been rushing up the path with the other Marauders trailing behind, exhausted and wet from the sudden summer storm they'd been caught in, when James had slipped, lost his balance and gone down hard on the uneven concrete. His mother had appeared at the door within seconds as the others, laughing, pulled him up; and Sirius had learnt very quickly that bruises from clumsy teenagers weren't the only things that James' parents were good at fixing. They fixed his broom once, in the summer before second year, when he barely knew them and was still too young to appreciate it properly. Last summer, when James had (accidentally, of course) knocked him out of a tree, Mrs. Potter had bandaged him up without a word of complaint. She didn't say it was his fault for being careless. At Grimmauld Place, everything always seemed to be his fault.

Sirius had never walked up the front path like this, when he shouldn't be there at all. He'd always given at least a day's notice, asking for permission that he knew would be granted without question. But this was different; this wasn't him asking to stay for a few weeks until school started back up. This was him lugging a heavy chest containing everything he now owned, its sides bulging comically despite how many of his possessions he'd had to sacrifice and leave behind. He was more tired than he'd ever felt in his life, and only a small part of his bone-deep exhaustion was a result of the half hour walk from where he'd got off the bus. He was still wearing dress robes with a ridiculous lace collar from the 'family dinner', as though he'd dressed up specially to celebrate his estrangement. Even now, hours later, he shook with anger when he remembered the looks on the faces of his mother and cousins.

He stopped on the doorstep and let go of his trunk, allowing it to fall to the ground with such a racket that someone surely must have heard it. Despite it being almost eleven, there were, thankfully, still lights on downstairs – Sirius didn't much fancy sleeping in the porch.

He raised his hand to knock, trying to push down his irrational panic that James' family wouldn't want him either, but just as he was about to release the knocker, the door flew open. James stood on the other side of it, surrounded by bright light that hurt Sirius' eyes after his trek down the barren, unlit country roads. He was obviously ready for bed, wearing shorts and an old t-shirt with a teddy bear on it.

"I… hello," was all Sirius said, but James knew. Sirius could tell by his expression. He'd already grabbed Sirius' arm, and before he could protest, he was pulled into the warm house, the door was closed behind him, his trunk was at the bottom of the stairs, and James was giving him one of his looks. Not the good kind either, not the kind that said 'I've got a brilliant idea!', but the sort of look that was full of nauseating concern and the silent promise that he would fix everything. This time, though, Sirius wasn't sure that things could be fixed.

Sirius sighed, wanting nothing more than to go to bed and forget everything that had happened in the past few hours; but he knew he owed the Potters an explanation, so he nodded at James in a way that was supposed to be reassuring and let himself be led into the living room.

James was worried. Sirius was usually filled with an energy that made it impossible for him to sit still, but when he gestured for Sirius to take a seat, he sank into the armchair like he would never move again. The casual arrogance that was normally an intrinsic part of his every movement was now absent; his shoulders slumped and he looked weighed down, like his limbs had turned to lead. His eyes were still bright as least, though so full of fury that James was half-convinced his stare would bore a hole in the carpet.

He didn't know how or why it had happened, but he had the definite feeling that Sirius had finally snapped and walked out on his family for good. Otherwise he wouldn't have turned up like this – not this late at night, with his school trunk so full it looked like it would burst open at any moment and an expression on his face that James last remembered seeing at the start-of-term feast two years ago, when Regulus had been sorted into Slytherin.

In the formal clothes he was wearing, Sirius looked out of place in James' living room, sitting in a worn armchair with stains on one arm where James' dad always rested his coffee mug and frequently knocked it over. But there was a tear in his shirt and mud splattered up the legs of his trousers; James wondered how difficult it had been for Sirius to get here, and was sorry that he'd had to make the journey alone.

His parents sat down on the sofa together, watching Sirius with matching expressions of concern. James stayed standing, crossing his arms over his chest to hide the teddy bear on his t-shirt, and cleared his throat.

"Sirius, what happened?" There was probably a less blunt way of asking, but James didn't exactly excel at subtlety, and straightforward questions were normally the best way to get through to Sirius.

Dragging his gaze away from the floor, Sirius looked at James with a strangely unguarded expression. He pushed his fingers through his tangled hair, which looked almost as much of a mess as James' always did, and opened his mouth to speak. He couldn't seem to decide what he wanted to say for a second, until two resolute words spilled out: "I left."

James raised his eyebrows and Sirius sighed, sitting up a little straighter. "They were going on about Andromeda again." His voice was low and weary, but each word had a hard edge to it. "My parents have these big family dinners every so often to keep ties with all their pureblood relatives. Bellatrix and Rodolphus were there, and Narcissa brought her new bastard of a husband."

He silenced himself, biting down hard on his lip, and James saw the worried glance he shot towards his parents. They just smiled at him reassuringly. "Go on," Mrs. Potter said kindly. "You can tell us."

"They were talking about her little girl as if she's a monster, as though being half-blood is the worst thing you could be. It's not like she's ever done anything to them – she's a three year old! Just because Dromeda isn't going to spawn little Death Eaters like the rest of the family. I told them that I don't blame her, that I'd rather marry a muggle than stand another moment in that house. That their bloody precious son is going to end up in prison by the time he's 20, if he's not dead." He paused, letting out a bitter laugh and looking up at James in utter disgust. "I think they were hoping I'd change my mind one day. They said I should follow Reg's example, and when I told them I'd rather die than be a part of their little cult, well, Bellatrix chucked her glass at me and my mum went absolutely mad, said I should just go, burnt me off the tapestry and everything." He shrugged, balling his shaking hands into fists. "So that's that."

James could imagine it perfectly: the entire Black family turning on Sirius, their shouting filling the huge house as the dinner lay forgotten, Sirius storming upstairs and throwing everything within reach into his trunk before leaving, with his mother screaming at him to never come back. James unfolded his arms and went over to Sirius, putting his hand on his shoulder. They looked at each other for a long moment, before James turned a pleading eye to his parents.

"You know you're always welcome here, Sirius," James' dad said immediately. "You can stay here for as long as you need to."

"This house is your home as much as it is ours," his mum added, smiling.

James glanced down at Sirius and grinned at the relief in his expression. "You didn't really think we'd kick you out onto the street, did you?"

A smile tugging at the corner of his lips, Sirius shook his head. "Know you're always pining for me when I'm not here, anyway," he said quietly.

James' dad chuckled, patting Sirius' arm gently as he stood up and went back out into the hallway.

"You know Sirius," he called, "why don't I put your trunk in the spare room? It's no use you sleeping on James' camp bed if you're going to be here for the long haul."

"I think that's a great idea," his mum agreed, looking fondly at Sirius. "That room needs sprucing up anyway. Nothing like a teenage boy to bring a bit of life to the place."

Sirius nodded silently, unsure how to respond to the sudden kindness. He always forgot how much he enjoyed the company of James' family over the holidays, how they were the reverse of his own parents.

They headed upstairs a quarter of an hour later, after James' mum had taken away his dirty clothes and had offered him food and drink. He knew their house so well already – knew which part of the top step creaked horribly if he stepped on it, and how to slip through James' door without knocking himself on the cabinet that was always an inch or so out of place. In some ways he knew it better than he'd ever known his parents' house, with its dark corridors and endless rooms that Sirius still felt lost in sometimes.

James led Sirius into his new room and collapsed immediately onto the bed, pulling Sirius down with him.

"You looked like a right berk in that get up, by the way," he joked, elbowing Sirius in the side.

"Oh, cheers mate." James was obviously trying to be normal, and Sirius was grateful. "Sympathetic as always I see, no idea why Evans won't give you the time of day when you're just so charming."

"Don't remind me," James said, sighing dramatically with his hand thrown over his forehead. "She must be immune to my dazzling personality, otherwise she'd find me irresistible.

Sirius grinned. "Always a pleasure to listen to you moan, Prongs."

"Have to distract you from your tragic life somehow, don't I?" James replied, smirking.

"Keep telling yourself that," Sirius murmured. He was so tired that James' words had almost stopped making sense – not that he was one for making much sense in general. But it was easy to give into his exhaustion here, in the warm room with its light cream wallpaper and cozy blankets around him.

Lying on the bed next to his best friend, he smiled and let his eyes drift closed, realising he felt more at home than he had all summer.


	2. Chapter 2 - Summer Nights

Chapter 2 - Summer Nights

On a small, deserted playground on the outskirts of London, Lily Evans was doing her very best to avoid her family. As the evening stretched on, the light grew too dim for reading, leaving her to sit on one of the rusty old swings, rocking back and forth without much enthusiasm.

Ditching her copy of 'Confronting the Faceless' on the gravel underneath her feet and wishing she was allowed to cast a simple lumos spell without being expelled, she twisted the metal chains around each other carelessly, watching them clink together and fall back to their usual place. It was still warm and early enough for Lily to be comfortable in her white sundress and thin cardigan, but the idea of going back to the house and having to sit with the repulsive boy her sister had brought home was distinctly unpleasant. Really, he was the furthest thing from the rest of the family that Lily could imagine, and she was certain, despite not being close to her sister these days, that he was no good for Petunia. He was loud, brash and over confident about subjects he knew very little about. Lily didn't like the way he looked down his nose at her as if he knew something she didn't: as if Petunia had told him everything.

At the sound of a metal gate squeaking open, she looked up hurriedly, ready to hide the magic book from any curious muggles, but her anxiety was needless; the boy shuffling towards her was definitely not a muggle, nor had he ever quite mastered the skill of dressing like one. Lily watched him approach, feeling the beginning of a headache already nagging at her temples. He sat down on the swing beside her, gazing at the floor and kicking up gravel.

"I went around to yours," Snape said, not looking at Lily. "That great muggle was there again – he looks just like you said, like a bulldog snarling at you."

Lily turned to look at Snape – he seemed ghostly pale, even in the low light, as if he hadn't left the house all summer. Lily supposed he might not have, considering how little time the two of them had been spending together. Of all the witches and wizards she knew, he was the only one who looked so utterly out of place in the muggle world, like it made him ill.

"Severus…"

"I know you don't want to talk to me," he interrupted, finally dragging his eyes off the ground, "I just… I keep telling you, I didn't mean what I said."

Lily shook her head. "If you didn't mean it then why-"

"It was Potter! You saw what he did, and I panicked. I didn't mean to call you that."

"Why not?" Lily demanded, anger flaring up. "Don't you think I've heard what you and your little friends go around calling muggleborns? If them, why not me?"

"You're different," Snape said defiantly. He was staring at her fully now, eyes wide and pleading as he watched Lily shake her head.

"No." She stood up, backing away from him, "I grew up right here, Severus – in the muggle world. My family are muggles – I love muggles. I don't want your special treatment just because we used to be friends."

"Used to be?" Snape repeated flatly.

"Yes. You made your choice, Sev; I may be muggleborn but I still read the papers and you're the one who's going to be on the wrong side of all this."

"But Lily," he said, standing up and darting forward to grab her arm, his long oversized coat dragging across the ground, "I don't care about your blood status – I told you that the first time we met, it doesn't matter!"

Lily ripped her arm away from him. "Tell that to the Hufflepuff who was in the hospital wing for a week after your little gang hexed him."

"I had nothing to do with that."

"You were there. He was a second year and you don't even think they were wrong to do it, do you? Some friends you've got there. "

"I-"

"James Potter may be an arrogant arse at times but he's nothing compared to what you've been like this past year. I can't ignore that anymore."

She turned around, striding towards the gate and forcing herself not to look back to see if her words had had any effect.

"He's like a bullying child!" Snape shouted after her, "he's probably doing something stupid as we speak!"

"Unlike you? Chasing after someone who wants nothing to do with you?" She slammed the gate behind her, cutting off Snape's words with the sound of clanging metal.

* * *

><p>James had got out of going to dinner with some overly-friendly relatives who would insist on telling him how much he'd grown since he'd seen them last summer (three inches, to be precise – he'd had a growth spurt) by saying how boring it would have been for Sirius. His mum had looked sceptical and suggested that being around more people might bring him out of the somewhat quiet, distant mood he'd been in since he'd arrived, but James had insisted that family gatherings were currently Sirius' least favourite thing and were to be avoided at all costs. And now, an hour after his parents had stepped into the green flames of the fireplace, they were celebrating an evening free from parental supervision by getting completely hammered.<p>

They had gone out into the garden, since James was all too familiar with Sirius' tendency to break things when drunk, usually by curiously picking up something he liked the look of and then promptly forgetting it was in his hand and dropping it. When they had first sat down on the grass and cracked open their drinks, the sky had cast a warm, pinkish glow over them, but since then the sun had ducked beneath the horizon, leaving them in darkness.

One of the great things about James' house was that it was isolated enough for them to be able to do as they please without fear of annoying the neighbours, but not too desolate that they were miles away from the city. It was so unlike Grimmauld Place, where the towering houses and constantly smoking chimneys had only served to make Sirius feel more and more trapped.

"This was definitely one of your better ideas, Prongs," Sirius grinned from a low hung branch of the old oak by the Potter's flower garden. He generally didn't considered himself a country person, but by the time he'd had half a bottle of fire whiskey, he'd realised that tree climbing was his true calling in life and he would never again live in a place without trees. "Where'd you get the whiskey from, anyway?"

"Left over from last year." James replied from where he was lying on the grass with one hand behind his head and the other still clutching the whiskey bottle. "Nicked them from that Ravenclaw who fell asleep in our dorm. And I'll have you know that all of my ideas are fantastic."

"Of course," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I particularly liked the one that landed us all in detention. Which one was that again?" He grabbed a fistful of leaves from the tree and flung them down in James' direction. "Oh wait, that's all of your ideas."

"Well yeah, all the best ideas involve bending a rule or two." James said, rolling to the side to avoid the worst of the leaves. He sat up and lifted his bottle as an example. "We wouldn't end up in detention if we didn't take credit for our genius, but where's the fun in that?"

"Probably in the not getting grilled by McGonagall," Sirius laughed.

He slid down from the branch as quickly as his trousers would allow, grabbing his own bottle of whiskey from where he'd left it beside James' head and holding it up in a mock salute before taking a swig.

"Merlin, Pads, you're standing in mum's flowers." James grabbed Sirius' trouser leg to drag him away from the flower garden. Grinning, he added, "If you trample her lilies you'll be kicked out of the house by morning."

"Oh, not the lilies!" Sirius replied in mock horror, flopping down onto the grass beside James. "Did you plant those yourself Jamesy? Do they remind you of your One True Love?" he threw one hand across his forehead dramatically, sloshing whiskey down his shirt with the sudden movement.

James elbowed him in the ribs. "I didn't make a flower shrine for her in my back garden, right, I'm not that much of a prick."

"Hmm," Sirius half agreed, shoving away James' arm. He'd never been particularly fond of lilies, they smelt like cat piss and made his nose tickle. If James' mum liked them though...

He pushed his hair back out of his eyes and stared up at the darkening sky. He could actually see the stars here, unlike in the smog of the city, where even when he escaped to the roof, the sky was more often than not shielded behind cloud, even in the summer.

When Sirius didn't say anything else, James turned his head towards him, but in the dark he couldn't see his expression. "Hey," he said, his voice low even though there was no one else there to hear them. "You've gone quiet. Either you're so drunk you think that stargazing is fun, or you're thinking about...you know, family stuff."

"Can't stargaze without thinking about my lot, can I?" Sirius said, turning his head towards James. He was smiling, but it didn't meet his eyes. "I'm fine mate, really."

James chewed his lip, choosing his words carefully before he spoke. "It's good if you're fine, but...you don't have to be, you know? You can be upset or angry - or whatever. That's okay."

"I just wish things were different," Sirius said, glancing at James before taking a swig from his bottle. "Not just for me but for Reg and Andromeda and my uncle Alphard. Not that I don't like it here," he added quickly, patting James knee with a little more force than necessary. "But you can be a bit of a pain, Potter. Even if you do supply decent booze."

James smirked. "I always knew you were using me to get to my alcohol. But for real," he said, "things are different now. You – you got away. So did Andromeda and I guess your uncle too. Regulus might too, one day, but that's up to him."

* * *

><p>Lily was furious. Each footstep sounded like a drum beat in her head as she hurried towards home, hoping that Snape had sense enough not to follow her. The darkness had come on suddenly, and the other peaceful houses on the street, with their safely drawn curtains and their perfectly cut shrubbery pissed Lily off. It was unfair, she thought bitterly, for Snape to act like the victim when he was clearly the one in the wrong. Lily disliked James Potter 80% of the time, but she knew his attacks on her former friend weren't completely random. Severus had always hated James and Sirius just as venomously as they had hated him, and he hadn't minded sending plenty of hexes their way to show it.<p>

She made it to the corner of her street, pulling her cardigan tighter against the sudden chill in the air, when she heard Snape call out her name.

"Lily! Lily, wait," he gasped when he caught up with her, a hand on the stitch in his side as he walked quickly to keep up. "Look, I know you never liked the other Slytherins, but you were always friends with me regardless. I don't understand why that's changed."

Grateful to reach her front yard, Lily paused and turned around. Snape looked downright pathetic with his oversized muggle attire and mournful expression.

"If you can't even see the problem then it's not worth the effort to try to explain it to you," she said, anger abating into something quieter, something more like dread. "I don't want you coming here anymore."

"But we've been friends for five years," he said indignantly. In the darkening evening, his eyes looked blacker than ever, but below them his mouth was pinched together, like he was trying to hide his emotions. "You can't just end it all of a sudden."

Lily shook her head, struggling to hold back a laugh at how ridiculous she felt having to justify herself. Behind her she could hear muffled speech through the front door – probably Petunia saying goodbye to Vernon. His car was still in the drive, right beside where Snape was standing. She briefly wondered how long it would take the two of them to murder each other if she were to leave them alone for any period of time. Her sister's boyfriend was everything Snape hated about muggles, and although Petunia was forbidden from telling anyone about her magic, Lily got the distinct impression that Vernon would be less than approving.

"We've both changed since we were eleven," she said finally. The shadow of her words, unspoken but still heard, that _he_ had changed – and not for the better. "If you change your mind about the kind of people you want to spend your time with, then maybe we can talk."

She turned to head inside, not wanting to give Snape a chance to respond, just as Vernon Dursley opened the front door, almost colliding with her.

Lily slid around him into the house, stopping only to look at her sister, whose face was scrunched up into a most unflattering expression, as if the very sight of Snape left an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

"What's he doing here?" she asked loudly, probably wanting to make it clear to Vernon that she disapproved of someone as poorly-dressed as Snape. "He hangs around too often."

"For once," Lily sighed, "I have to agree with you."

She didn't wait to see if Snape left. The sound of Petunia's gushed goodbyes to Vernon followed her up the stairs to her bedroom, where she promptly collapsed onto the bed.

The front door eventually closed and Lily listened to her sister's footsteps on the stairs, then the landing, stopping momentarily outside her bedroom door as if she were about to knock. Lily stared at the door, not sure whether she wanted to talk or not, especially when things between her and Petunia had been so strained. Then the footsteps moved away, and her sister's bedroom door clicked shut, leaving Lily alone.

* * *

><p>James held the empty fire whiskey bottle up in front of his face and stared at it. It looked a little blurry, so he reached a hand up to touch the bridge of his nose; his glasses were definitely still there. "We're out of alcohol," he declared loudly.<p>

Sirius looked up from where he was lying on his stomach, plucking bits of grass from the lawn and twirling them between his fingers. He wasn't sure what time it had gotten to, just that the distant glow of light from James' neighbours' windows had disappeared, and the moon was high in the sky above them. It was still fairly warm, whether from the lingering sunshine or the buzz of alcohol, he wasn't sure. With sudden inspiration, he jumped to his feet, declared that he had an idea, and staggered towards the house.

"Pads?" James called after him as Sirius disappeared through the back door, where light still shone from inside, a rectangle of brightness against the dark. He considered following him, but the grass he was sitting on was very comfortable and he didn't really feel like getting up. Luckily, he was saved the effort of moving by Sirius' reappearance in the doorway a minute later. In his arms was something about the size of a shoebox, with a thin metal stick pointing out of the top, and as Sirius got closer James noticed that it was covered in buttons and dials.

Sirius set it down in front of him, grinning, as James raised his eyebrows. "I'm probably going to regret asking," he said, his voice a little slurred, "But what exactly is this?"

"It's brilliant," was Sirius' reply.

He tumbled to the ground beside James, crossing his legs and leaning forward just enough so as to not over-balance while he fiddled with the contraption.

"It's a radio, but different to Wizarding ones – got it off a muggle in London last summer, didn't I? It runs off these things called batteries – I think we did about them in muggle studies but I don't remember exactly how they works."

He pulled the stick on the top of the box, making it longer and longer, much to James' amusement.

At first, all the boys could here was a buzzing, static sound, but as Sirius moved the dials around, words and melodies started to come through, filling the night with the music of muggle artists.

"I listened to it every day before I came here, used to piss my mum right off."

After deeming the radio signal adequate, Sirius sat back on the grass, looking regretfully at his empty bottle of whiskey. He felt James shift beside him, obviously curious of the radio as the song started up. It was a bit fuzzy to start with, but once the chorus started, they could make out most of the lyrics. From what James could gather, the song was about someone shaking their 'booty.'

"Wooow," he said to Sirius, drawing the word out elaborately. "This is the kind of music muggles listen to?"

He looked away from the radio and the corners of his lips twitched as he noticed that Sirius, though still sitting down, was shaking his hips from side to side and murmuring the lyrics to himself. "Sirius Black," James said, smirking, "Do you actually like this song?"

"No!" Sirius replied defensively, though he didn't stop nodding his head in time to the beat of the music. "It's just, this bit is really catchy, listen." He sang along under his breath for a moment, before he grabbed a surprised James by his forearms and dragged him to his feet.

"Told you, it's the best!" he beamed, not giving James a chance to respond before he started to bop from side to side in front of his friend, encouraging James to do the same.

James reluctantly started dancing, laughing as Sirius spun around and nearly fell over. "We look like idiots!"

"We always do!" Sirius agreed jovially. He swept past James with a rather ungraceful leap and bent down to turn the radio up, music pouring out across the garden.


	3. Chapter 3 - Diagon Alley

Chapter 3 – Diagon Alley

Diagon Alley was always busy towards the end of the summer holidays, bustling with Hogwarts students and their families as they stocked up with books and robes and potion ingredients. Remus had wanted to do his shopping earlier in the summer when it was quieter, but given enough time before they went back to school he knew from experience that Sirius would have tried feeding his sopophorous beans to his owl, James would have spilt ink all over his textbooks, and Peter would have lost all his new quills – so he'd had to settle for doing their shopping in the last week of summer.

It was a sunny day, so he was glad they'd chosen to meet outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, where he could sit at one of the little round tables in the shade of the building, eating double chocolate ice cream and watching through the window of Ollivanders on the opposite side of the street. A first year girl had gone in there with her parents five minutes earlier and there were lots of bangs and flashes as Mr Ollivander pulled boxes down from the wall and handed her different wands.

Remus checked his watch. The other marauders were over twenty minutes late – not that this was surprising; despite Mrs Potter's best efforts, James and Sirius were just incapable of being punctual. Peter was usually a little better at time keeping, but rather less good with memory, so Remus suspected he was wandering around nearby trying to remember where they had agreed to meet.

Just as the young girl came out of Ollivanders clutching her brand new wand, Remus heard someone yell "MOONY" and turned his head towards the voice. James, Sirius and Peter were heading down the street towards him, and Remus felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips. It was barely a month since he'd last seen them, but that seemed like a long time when they spent most of the year in each other's near-constant company.

Abandoning what little was left of his ice cream, he stood up as Sirius bounded over and engulfed him in a hug that nearly made them both fall over. "Nice to see you too," Remus said, a little breathless from having the wind knocked out of him.

"Moony," James said cheerfully when Sirius had let go of Remus and was perching precariously on the edge of the table, looking artfully ruffled from having collided with his friend. Remus himself felt a bit more dishevelled, though he tried to at least straighten his shirt. "Figured you'd actually be where we planned to meet. Wormtail was off skulking around outside Gringotts."

"I wasn't skulking," Peter said indignantly. "Mum took me to get some money and then I was waiting for you all."

"You have excellent taste in ice cream, Moony," Sirius said, ignoring Peter's complaints and swirling his finger around the bowl, managing to splodge the brownish goop onto his jeans before eating it. He licked his finger clean and then pointed it at James accusingly. "I suggest you drag this one off to all your sensible shops first," he said to Remus. "He's after kitting me out in quidditch gear, can you imagine? Though the robes are rather fetching I suppose."

"Shouldn't you wait until after tryouts to buy quidditch gear?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows and turning to James. He knew James would be an extremely competent Captain, but not everyone would see it that way if all his friends suddenly made the team. "McGonagall won't be happy if she knows you're appointing people without seeing them in tryouts."

"I've seen Sirius play enough times to know he's good enough to be a Gryffindor beater." James shrugged, though his tone was a little indignant. "Kingsley's been beater for years and he may be bigger, but Pads is faster. I reckon they'll work well together."

"Flattery will do wonders for you, Prongs," Sirius grinned, hopping down from the table and winking at James as the four of them started down the street.

He felt a bounce in his step as they walked, invigorated by the company of his friends and bustle of the streets. Everywhere he looked, families were rushing to and fro with their children, all looking duly stressed under the midday sun. Elsewhere were groups of older students similar to themselves, laughing together after a summer of isolation. Sirius spotted a couple of soon-to-be-seventh-year Ravenclaws that he knew by sight, if not name, already done with their shopping if the army of bags in their hands were anything to go by.

Remus had taken a list out of his pocket and was scanning it intently, subtly guiding them all towards Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. Sirius suspected that because Potions was not Remus' strongest subject, he was anxious to stock up so he'd be more prepared for it. He should really do the same, since he had also taken an option in Advanced Potions, and no longer had access to his parents' large stocks of ingredients.

Looking up from his list, Remus said, "Sirius and I need to go to the Apothecary for potions, then Flourish and Blotts is just across the street so we may as well all get this year's books, and after that -"

"Quidditch supplies," James interjected.

"After that we'll let you and Sirius run rampant in the Quidditch shop," Remus agreed, smiling as they stepped inside the Apothecary.

It was a brightly lit shop, with every inch of its walls covered in shelves that held neatly hand-labelled jars. James wrinkled his nose as he peered at a jar full of what appeared to be small eyeballs. "This shop always gives me the creeps."

"We spend a night in the forbidden forest every month," Peter pointed out. "How come you're scared of some eyeballs?"

Before James could make a rude gesture at him, a shop assistant emerged through a door behind the desk. "Can I help you?" he asked, smiling.

Remus looked pointedly at Sirius, so he reluctantly put down a jar of some small, shiny insects – some of which still seemed to be moving – and followed him to the desk.

"We need all of these," Sirius said bluntly, grabbing the list out of Remus' hands and handing it to the shop assistant.

"Just starting NEWTs?" he inquired pleasantly, reaching beneath the desk and pulling out two pre-packed cases of potions ingredients. "I've started requesting the syllabus from Dumbledore so I can get things ready. You wouldn't believe the fuss otherwise, especially with the younger ones."

"When I was 12, I knocked over a huge jar of some sort of brains," Sirius agreed gravely. Most of the ingredients in the kits were thankfully dry: wormwood, asphodel, and some bark that was floating in a greenish liquid.

The man eyeballed him suspiciously, as if he remembered the incident well and was strongly hoping against a repeat performance.

"Two galleons is it?" Sirius asked, pulling out his wallet in an attempt to distract the man from James and Peter, who had started to shake a container of something purple and glowing.

"Three. More complex ingredients this year I'm afraid."

Sirius heard Remus make an annoyed sort of huff from beside him as he reached into his pocket, before they both handed over the requested money.

They headed out of the shop and across the road to Flourish and Blotts, where Remus felt far more comfortable – partially because he was surrounded by books but mostly due to there being far less potential damage for his friends to do than in a shop full of rare and interesting magical substances in delicate jars.

'A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration' was on display on a round table in the middle of the shop, and all of them except Peter picked up a copy.

"We do human transfiguration this year," James said with a grin as he flipped open the book. "Guess we'll pass that with flying colours, right?"

"Three years of studying it should definitely give us a head start," Remus said. "Though McGonagall might be a bit suspicious when you're able to turn yourself into a stag on the first try but can't turn into anything else."

"Nah, she'll be so impressed we won't have to do any work for the rest of the year," Sirius argued, flipping absently through the book. It had bright pictures and detailed instructions on the complex spells they would be learning over the next year. Sirius didn't mind these kinds of books, the ones that actually taught you how to do a spell step-by-step, unlike the rather more suspicious looking book that Peter had found and handed to James. Judging by the complex labelled diagrams and chapters of long-winded text that he could see over his friend's shoulder, Sirius was very glad that he was not taking Herbology.

"Charms doesn't look too bad," James said, piling another three copies into his arms and passing them out amongst his friends.

"I think I'm charming enough, really," Sirius replied, taking the book reluctantly. His stack was getting ridiculously heavy, despite only needing texts for the five subjects he would be studying for his sixth and seventh years. He didn't see why they had to be so thick.

"I'm done," Peter said, struggling under the weight of his own books. "See you at the till?"

Sirius nodded, before noticing that Remus appeared to have slipped away from them. Rather predictably, he was to be found hanging around the fiction section instead of going over to pay. "We're ready to go," Sirius said, apparently making Remus jump as he stuffed a book hastily back onto the shelf. "What's that?"

"Hmm?" Remus replied, picking up the books he'd neatly stacked on the floor and turning towards the desk where James and Peter were gathered. "Oh, nothing. Just a book I was looking at. Come on then."

Before following him, Sirius stopped briefly to pull out the book that his friend had been so interested in. Upon further inspection, he recognised the title as one that Remus had mentioned in his letters over summer – a new release from one of the few Wizard authors that Remus liked as much as the muggle books he'd grown up with.

Discreetly, Sirius slipped the book onto his own pile.

They each relieved their aching arms by dumping their piles of books onto the counter, where a cheerful witch added up the prices and wrapped up the books into four large parcels. She called all of them "dear" and "honey" as she took their money and gave them their change, and she even remembered that Remus had come shopping here last winter for Christmas presents.

Once they were outside again, James and Sirius started prodding Remus in the arm and chanting "quidditch!" enthusiastically. Remus rolled his eyes, feeling like a parent trying to control his children. "Alright, but afterwards we need to get some parchment and quills, maybe some new robes too."

"Alright, Professor Lupin," Sirius teased. He reached into the magically lightened stack of books beside him and pulled out the thin paperback he'd bought for Remus, "got you this," he said brightly, tossing the book into Remus' arms.

Not expecting anything to be thrown at him, Remus reached out a little too late to catch the book, almost dropping it before he managed to rebalance his other purchases and make a grab for it.

"Did you buy this?" he asked, surprised.

"Nah, nicked it didn't I," Sirius replied, looking at him completely seriously while James chuckled quietly. "Course I bloody well bought it, don't rush to thank me will you?"

"You didn't have to -"

"Remus."

"Okay, okay," Remus smiled, slipping the book into his bag. "Thank you, Sirius."

"You're most welcome Moony, now let's get moving before James explodes. He can only cope without seeing a broom for so long before he gets cravings."

"That's true," Peter put in, already a few steps ahead of them as they walked along. "Remember that time McGonagall confiscated his broom and he cried?"

They arrived at Quality Quidditch Supplies quickly, hurried along by the crowds and usual excited groups of children congregating outside the shop. Inside though, there were rather less people than Sirius had expected. He supposed that really the only people who needed to come in here were the Quidditch teams – first years and their younger siblings were relegated to staring longingly at the products through the window.

James immediately headed for the display of the Cleansweep Sixes – the newest model on the market.

"Pads," he said seriously, "with one of these, you can't fail to get on the team."

Sirius glanced curiously at the price tag, which would put him out of pocket a little more than he'd have liked, but with the return to school coming up it wasn't as if he'd need much money in the coming months. He ran his hand along the smooth frame as James practically bounced beside him.

"You have to get it! And get a Jersey! The Gryffindor ones are over here -"

James darted off to the other side of the store while Sirius gestured for the shopkeeper to wrap him up one of the Cleansweeps. He seemed shocked that someone was actually purchasing one, probably given their rather excessive price.

"Here!" James said the moment Sirius stepped up to him. He held a jumper against Sirius' chest, examining it carefully. "It's the same size as mine and that fits you, so you should be fine. Oh and you should look at these bats, the school ones are a bit -" James turned around when Sirius didn't immediately follow him, momentarily confused to see his three friends stood stock still, staring towards the door.

Sirius couldn't remember how to move. He'd glanced over at the door as he heard it open and been completely horrified by the familiar figure he saw walking in with a friend, heads bent low and deep in conversation.

James came up behind him, craning his neck around Sirius' shoulder to see what he was looking at. The murmured "oh, shit" in his ear was enough to bring Sirius jolting back to reality.

Regulus had only just spotted him, standing a few feet away with an equally troubled expression on his face as he stared at his brother.

"Thought you'd be too busy tugging on mother's apron strings to shop by yourself," Sirius spat.

"That's funny," Regulus said, a dark look in his black eyes, "I was hoping the weight of your own ego would have crushed you by now. Obviously not."

"Sirius..." James said gently, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, "maybe we should -"

"I used to wonder how you could stand it," Sirius said, ignoring James. His words were tumbling over each other, his cheeks glowing feverishly. "Then I realised. You're just like them. You'll be up to your eyes in dark magic before you're seventeen."

"And you, abandoning your family for the sake of blood traitors and mudbloods? No wonder you're such a disappointment."

"You're going to end up dead!" Sirius yelled. He was suddenly so worked up that he felt trapped. Ripping himself away from the grip James had on his shoulder, he pushed past his friends towards the exit, shoving his brother hard in the shoulder as he went.

"You're already dead to us, brother," Regulus shouted at his back, the words tainting the air like poison. "You have been for a long time."

The door swung shut behind Sirius, leaving the shop in momentary silence.

"Shit." James repeated. "Here," he said, tossing his wallet to Remus. "Pay for this stuff, I'll go after him."

With James gone, Remus hesitantly went over to pay for the Quidditch jumper and broomstick, Peter trailing behind him. Even the shop assistant had gone quiet, glancing worriedly between the two pairs of boys, probably hoping they weren't about to start another argument.

While the Gryffindor jumper was being wrapped up, Remus watched Regulus and the other fourth year boy, whom he recognised as Evan Rosier, as they surveyed the Slytherin section of Quidditch gear. Regulus was paler than usual and his hands seemed to be shaking slightly, though when he glanced up and noticed Remus looking, he clenched them tightly into fists.

Remus pursed his lips, wondering whether he should say anything, but he decided it wasn't fair to interfere in Sirius' relationship with his brother. He merely handed over the money from James' wallet and thanked the shop assistant, then gave Peter a tense smile and started to leave.

Regulus and Evan Rosier were having a whispered conversation when Remus passed them, but despite their lowered voices he heard Rosier say, "He's a blood traitor, Reg. Your family are better than that."

"So I should be happy that I'm supposed to hate him now?" Regulus said sharply. "I don't want to hear it."

Remus kept walking past them and didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but he felt a twinge of sympathy for Regulus; between his Slytherin friends and his pureblood parents, he was undoubtedly facing a lot of pressure to be, well, the exact opposite of his older brother.

Peter was the one who eventually spotted Sirius and James, the latter leaning against the wall behind Eeylops, while Sirius paced in front of him, hands constantly moving between wild gestures and raking through his hair.

"Don't," Remus and Peter heard him snap at James as they approached. "I can't stand it, Prongs."

"I know," James replied, moving as though he wanted to touch Sirius in some way, to offer some sort of comfort, but his friend shrugged away from him.

"Can we just, can we just pretend none of this happened? At least until we get home. There's still shops to go to and -"

"And you owe Prongs a load of money," Remus put in, sensing Sirius would appreciate the distraction. He handed the broom and packaged jersey to Sirius, and threw the wallet back to James.

Sirius smiled briefly, looking at Remus with eyes that were wide and slightly glossy. "Cheers, Moony."

James slid his wallet back into his pocket and knocked shoulders with Sirius. "C'mon, let's go to the sweet shop."

Shaking his head, Sirius said, "We should get the stuff left on Moony's list. Quills and whatever."

Remus smiled. "We can get it later," he assured him.

Sirius hesitated, rocking back on his heels, and James guessed that he wanted to get their shopping trip over with as soon as possible – but he knew Sirius would be even worse once he was back at James' house, forced to either be shut up alone in his room or pretend he was okay to James' parents. The best chance of cheering Sirius up even a little bit was while the marauders were all together, so James was going to prolong their time in Diagon Alley for as long as he could.

"Mum wants me to get her some toffee," James added, which wasn't entirely untrue; she hadn't asked him to buy any, admittedly, but she was always talking about how good the toffee in Sugarplum's Sweets Shop was. "She says it's even better than the stuff from Honeydukes."

Shrugging, Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking towards Sugarplum's. James fell into step next to him, with the others following behind, and started talking about Quidditch, not pausing between his musings – about who the new Hufflepuff captain would be and whether he could convince McGonagall to put all the Slytherin players in detention every time they scheduled a practice session – so that Sirius didn't have to add anything to the conversation.

Inside the sweet shop, Peter immediately went over to the Every Flavour Beans, which he had a strange partiality for despite James being able to list at least six times when they'd made him throw up. James spotted the shelf of toffee and turned to Sirius to get him to help choose what to buy, but he and Remus were already wandering in the opposite direction, towards the chocolate frogs. Noticing that he looked a little less tense now, James smiled and went to pick the toffee himself.


	4. Chapter 4 - Lessons and Liquid Luck

Chapter 4 – Lessons and Liquid Luck

On the 2nd September, the day after the marauders had boarded the Hogwarts Express, enjoyed the feast in the Great Hall, and sat through the Sorting Hat's unusually serious song, James rose groggily but cheerfully from his four-poster bed. Sirius had been the first one to wake up, as usual, and had managed to wait for an impressive ten minutes before he started pulling back the curtains and jumping on everyone's beds.

"You're like a kid on Christmas morning," Remus commented dryly, stifling a yawn. "You do realise we have lessons to go to, right?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's not like we ever get given hard work in the first couple of days."

They left Peter to enjoy his first free period in bed and went down to breakfast. An hour later they were shuffling into the Transfiguration classroom, Remus still yawning and James brushing toast crumbs off his robes. Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the class, her dark hair tied back in a tight bun and her eyes severe behind her glasses. James winked at her as he strolled into the classroom, pointing at the badge on his chest that proclaimed him to be Quidditch Captain. "Nice choice, Professor," he said, grinning.

"Don't make me regret it, Potter," she warned, though she smiled faintly at him before telling everyone to get to their seats.

James flopped into a chair and Sirius sat down next to him, though not before pulling another desk closer for Remus. McGonagall pressed her lips together as she looked in their direction, but she had long thought that Remus was a good influence on them, so she allowed them to sit together.

When the class had just about settled down, Lily slipped into the classroom. McGonagall eyed her sternly but gestured for her to take a seat.

"McGonagall would have eaten us alive if we'd been late on the first day," Sirius muttered, but James was too busy watching Lily to pay him any attention. She glanced at Snape, who had obviously saved her a seat and was staring expectantly. Lily turned her back on him and sat down next to Mary Macdonald, a fellow Gryffindor she shared a dorm with. The class had automatically divided itself according to house, so this put Lily directly in front of James.

He leant closer to Sirius. "She's not sitting with Snivellus," he hissed, raising his eyebrows significantly.

"I do have eyes, Prongs," Sirius muttered back, shooting James an amused look. "Though I know you enjoy giving a running commentary on everything Evans does."

James decided to ignore this remark. "Hey, Evans," he whispered. When she didn't respond, he scrunched up a bit of parchment and threw it at the back of her head.

She brushed it out of her hair and shot him an irritated look. "What do you want, Potter?"

"Guess who the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain is."

Lily's eyes flickered to the badge he was wearing and back up to his face. "Kingsley Shacklebolt?" she suggested innocently.

James frowned. "No-"

"Frank Longbottom? Hm, no, he doesn't play Quidditch. Marlene McKinnon?"

"It's _me_," James said in exasperation.

"Really?" Lily said with a smirk. "Never would have guessed." She turned back around just as McGonagall cleared her throat and began the lesson.

"As you undoubtedly know, you are now beginning your two years of NEWTs," McGonagall began. "You will not have any examinations this year, instead sitting all of your exams at the end of your seventh and final year. In Transfiguration, as with most subjects, you will have one untimed practical exam and one three-hour written exam on the magical theory."

There was a collective groan and McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "You may view these exams as a bore and a waste of time that could otherwise be spent socialising or leaving dungbombs in inappropriate places" – she glanced at James and Sirius, who did their best to look innocent – "but your NEWT grades will determine the career you can enter into after you complete your education."

While James and Sirius started scribbling notes to each other, Remus chewed his lip, listening carefully and trying to mentally calculate how many hours of studying he would realistically be able to achieve each week before he got roped into raiding the kitchens or, indeed, setting off dungbombs. James and Sirius had the frustrating ability to do next to no studying and still be among the best students in their year and, while Peter certainly tried to do well, he was even worse than Remus at saying no to joining in with James and Sirius' "brilliant plans". He wondered whether he could convince another student to study with him, but quickly dismissed the idea.

"These exams are not to be taken lightly," McGonagall continued, "And they are of such great importance that you should be studying hard all throughout the next two years. Every one of you achieved at least Exceeds Expectations in your Transfiguration OWL, so if you put your best effort into your lessons and your homework you can all achieve good grades. Hard work will get you a long way."

Remus frowned and stared down at his hands, his unmoving quill clasped between scarred fingers. He wondered exactly how far hard work could get him.

* * *

><p>Transfiguration passed far too slowly, with the class only half listening to McGonagall explain the course structure and the spells they would be perfecting over the coming months. Although the lesson itself didn't require much thinking, Sirius was certainly wrong about not having to do any hard work.<p>

"Four chapters by Monday AND she's going to test us on 'past material?'" he repeated to Remus on their way to Potions, having just said goodbye to James at the grand staircase as he headed off for his free period. "Is she out of her mind? It's the first day back for Merlin's sake!"

"These are NEWTs," Remus reminded him, in almost an exact imitation of their professor's stern voice, "you know it's going to be a lot of work."

Sirius sighed loudly, shouldering past a group of third years who were busy inspecting their new timetables. "I hope Slughorn goes easy on us then. I don't know if I can stand this 'importance of exams' lecture in every bloody class."

He paused and turned around when he noticed that Remus was no longer right behind him, then spotted him a few feet away, glancing over a piece of parchment that a small Ravenclaw girl was holding out to him hopefully.

"It's right up this corridor, all the way past the courtyard, then the second door on your right," he explained to the girl, who looked more than a little nervous as Sirius approached. "Thank you," she squeaked at Remus before taking her lesson plan and scurrying up the corridor.

"Who's a helpful little prefect then?" Sirius teased, as Remus stood up again.

"They never remember anything from the tours we give them," he replied. "And don't pretend you never got lost your first week. I distinctly remember you standing by that portrait of Giffard Abbott on the first floor for a good half hour before James found you."

"Just searching for passages, Moony," Sirius reprimanded as they finally reached the staircase leading down to the dungeons. "You know I like to keep on top of these things."

Slughorn was waiting for them when they arrived, a smile plastered on his face and his hands cupped over his green robes and large stomach. Sirius and Remus headed towards one of the only remaining tables, next to Lily and her friend Mary and in front of Snape and another Slytherin boy.

"I don't like this." Sirius whispered to Remus immediately. "Snivelly is right behind us. He could chuck potions at us or jinx us and we'd never even see it coming."

"I doubt he's going to curse you in the middle of class," Remus pointed out, just as Slughorn raised his hands to call for silence.

"As I'm sure you've all realised by now, your NEWT level classes have begun! Exciting, I know," he said, chuckling to himself at the sceptical expressions on their faces. "So in order to prepare you for some of the challenges you'll be facing over the next two years, I thought we'd begin with a practical. No need to take out your ingredients," he added quickly as the rustle of students reaching for their bags filled the room, "I've supplied everything you need!"

He waved his wand and a list of potion ingredients appeared on the board behind him. "Let's see how prepared for this year you are, shall we? Whoever makes the Draught of Living Death well enough for it to be usable will win this bottle of Felix Felicis, otherwise known as – who can tell me?"

"Liquid luck," Snape said, and Slughorn beamed.

"Yes, exactly!" He slipped the little bottle of golden liquid back into his pocket. "It's an unusual little potion and one that I'm sure any of you could find a use for. Though I will forewarn you that no student of mine has ever prepared this draught to my satisfaction, so this prize has never been claimed. Perhaps one of you will be the first to win it!" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and gestured towards the board. "Now it's time to get started, so good luck!"

"The Draught of Living Death is meant to be really difficult to make," Remus said, frowning as he followed Sirius to the store cupboard. "Look how precise the instructions are!"

"Don't worry," Sirius replied lazily as he passed back the ingredients to Remus. "He expects us to do badly so there's nothing to lose."

Sirius set up their cauldrons as Remus flicked through his book to try and find any additional information that might help them. Standing with his back to Slughorn so as to keep an eye on Snape, Sirius grabbed both his and Remus' Sopophorous beans and attempted to cut them. Irritatingly, Snape seemed to be doodling in his textbook, looking completely unconcerned about the complexity of the task. Finally, Sirius' knife chopped through the beans, sending the two sides catapulting to opposite sides of the table.

Remus glanced over his shoulder to see Snape smirking at them over his cauldron, which was giving off blue steam.

"Ignore him, Sirius," Remus said mildly, carefully measuring out the powdered root of asphodel and adding it to the cauldron. He stirred twice clockwise as the textbook instructed, then peered anxiously at the potion as it began to bubble. He was relieved when the steam coming from his potion turned blue.

When he looked up, Sirius was flicking the Sopophorous beans at Snape, a look of concentration on his face.

"Sirius!" Remus snapped, grabbing a handful of the beans for his own potion before they were all wasted. "Look, stir it before you end up melting the bottom of your cauldron." He handed his long-handled spoon to Sirius, glancing anxiously at Snape, who had thankfully been too engrossed in measuring his own ingredients to notice what Sirius had been doing.

Sirius huffed but stirred his potion as instructed, leaving it to simmer.

"This is the only class we have together you know," he said, leaning carelessly against the table. "Just the two of us I mean."

Remus was staring at his watch, trying to time how long they should leave the potions, but he looked up when Sirius spoke. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Plus we can actually be in the same room as Evans without James spouting poetry every two seconds."

"That does make a nice change," Remus agreed, glancing across at Lily, who was peering into her cauldron, red hair falling over her face.

"I think we need to add bean juice," Sirius said in some distress as Remus turned back around; the blue steam from their cauldrons had turned an alarming shade of green. Picking up the few remaining beans left on the desk, he attempted to squeeze them into both cauldrons, but they may as well have been rocks, and refused to produce anything but the tiniest amount of liquid.

"Oh god," Remus groaned, "this cannot happen, Sirius. I am not blowing up a cauldron on the first day back."

"Ah," Sirius said helplessly, attempting to retrieve another few beans from the floor as the smoke rising over Remus' cauldron began to turn black. At least the liquid inside still seemed to be the purplish colour described in the book.

"Oh for goodness sake!"

Sirius attempted to stand up too quickly, smacking his head on the edge of the table. He managed to drop the recovered beans back onto the floor.

"Ow," he moaned, putting a hand to his sore head as Lily and Remus stared at him. She had something in her hand and was squeezing juice into both his and Remus' cauldrons.

"When it turns lilac," she said slowly, as if talking to two first years, "stir it, and wait until it turns pink."

"Thank you so much," Remus said earnestly, as Sirius slid back into his seat, resting his head against the desk.

"Cheers Evans," he said reluctantly. "Even if I did nearly crack my skull."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. Her gaze briefly flickered to Snape before she returned to her own table.

"Time's up!" Slughorn called a few minutes later, clapping his hands together. "Take your cauldrons off the flames and I'll come round to inspect them."

The classroom was filled with the clunks and clatters of people moving their cauldrons. Remus was pleased that his had turned lilac, so even though he hadn't finished, at least nothing had gone wrong. Sirius, however, was still stirring his potion, apparently ignoring the instruction in the textbook to only stir it seven times.

"Not bad," Slughorn said as he looked into a Ravenclaw's cauldron. He nodded approvingly at Remus' potion, then raised his eyebrows at Sirius', which had somehow turned deep red and lumpy. He made a few corrective comments to various students, but the two cauldrons he stood by the longest were – predictably – Lily's and Snape's.

Finally, he said, "While Miss Evans' potion is certainly very advanced, Mr Snape has achieved the palest shade of pink that marks the final stage of the potion. I must say I'm not surprised that you are the first person to deserve the prize of the Felix Felicis, Mr Snape!"

"Thank you, sir," Snape said proudly, taking the bottle filled with golden potion.

Sirius scowled and muttered something about Slytherin favouritism. Remus was surprised to note that Lily also looked annoyed to have been beaten, though she had never seemed to mind before now that Snape usually did slightly better than her in Potions.

"Clear your cauldrons before you leave," Slughorn said. "And could Mr Snape, Miss Evans and Mr Black stay for a moment after class please."

Remus raised his eyebrows as he vanished his potion and started picking up all the beans Sirius had scattered on the floor. "Slug Club?"

"Oh joy," Sirius replied as he did his best to empty his cauldron of its rather sticky contents. "See you at lunch then?"

Remus nodded and hurried out of the door, keen to get to his Ancient Runes class on the other side of the castle.

"Now then!" Slughorn beamed at Sirius, Lily and Snape as they gathered around his desk. "Well done again Severus, Lily, on your fantastic potions! I'm sure yours would have been just as good Mr. Black, if you'd paid a little more attention."

Snape sneered at Sirius; he'd obviously seen Lily save his and Remus' potions from complete disaster. Before Sirius could respond though, he felt a bump to his arm as Lily stepped closer towards him, and away from Snape.

Slughorn carried on obliviously. "As you might have guessed, I'm starting up our little Slug Club meetings again this term! I'll be sending the first invitation out soon so I hope you can all find time to come!" He looked purposefully at Sirius, who was busy fiddling with the straps on his bag, trying not to make eye contact.

"Sirius," Slughorn encouraged, forcing Sirius to acknowledge him. "It would be nice to see you there this year. I ran into your cousin Narcissa and her husband just a few weeks ago – lovely couple."

Sirius smiled at the professor despite the tight knot in his stomach. "I suppose I could come."

"Excellent!" Slughorn said, the answer, however reluctant, clearly surprising him. "Run along then, I don't want you to be too late to your next lessons. Of course, just blame me if you are!"

The three of them turned to leave, Snape sweeping out of the classroom ahead of Sirius and Lily.

"I don't know why he wants you there, Black," he snapped once they were out of Slughorn's earshot. "Everyone knows your precious family wants nothing to do with you."

"Severus!" Lily gasped, but Snape had already stalked off down the corridor. She turned to Sirius, who looked a little shell shocked at not even getting out a retort. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Whatever," Sirius said, watching Snape disappear around the corner. "I have to get to class."

"Didn't think you'd be too concerned," Lily said, not unkindly.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged, "Moony said we have to work hard or we're going to end up selling dungbombs in Diagon Alley. That would just be a waste of my good looks and charm."

"Of course it would."

There was a brief silence before Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets and started stomping up the stairs, but just as he reached the top he heard Lily's light footsteps behind him. "Listen, don't let him get to you," she said, and for a moment it seemed as though she was going to say more.

He gave her a curious look, but she simply smiled weakly and hurried off. Sirius watched her go, feeling more agitated than was proper on the first day of school. With work already piling up and Slughorn pestering him to go to a gathering undoubtedly filled with sneering Slytherins, this was far from what he'd expected of his first full day back at Hogwarts. As Lily stopped at the end of the corridor to help a first year Slytherin, Sirius slowly started making his way to Muggle Studies, hoping the lesson would pass quickly and looking forward to spending his free afternoon in the common room with his friends.


	5. Chapter 5 - Try-outs

Chapter 5 – Try-outs

"How can you_ lose_ a broom?" James demanded, as Sirius disappeared under his bed, arms stretching as far as he could reach. Really, the space under the bed wasn't a particularly large one, but Sirius could have sworn that was where he'd stowed the new broom once they'd returned to school.

He was only half dressed and had been busy getting ready for Quidditch try-outs when James had burst into the dorm, already in his full kit, claiming that they needed to get there early because "I'm the Captain now, I can't just show up whenever I feel like it!"

The carpet scratched Sirius' arms as he hauled himself back up, still empty handed.

He looked around the room helplessly, quickly pulling his new Gryffindor jumper over his head to somewhat appease James. Peter was still down in the common room, completely engrossed in a game of exploding snap, while Remus had been sitting on his bed with his legs crossed for the past hour or so, glaring at the essay he was writing.

"Moony," he asked, taking a step towards him while James glanced at his watch. "Have you seen my broom?"

Remus looked up from his parchment, happy for an excuse to put down his quill. "You used it the other day to kill a spider on Peter's wardrobe," he said. "It's probably still around there somewhere."

Ignoring James' dismayed complaints that a Cleansweep Six should not be used as a bug swatter, Remus reluctantly turned back to his work. The problem was that, only two weeks into their sixth year, he was beginning to realise that NEWTs were a lot harder that OWLs had been. All their teachers had started setting record levels of homework, and it was difficult to keep on top of it all. He'd been trying to write an essay on Golpalott's Third Law, which was easier said than done, considering that he hadn't even heard of Golpalott until last week, and the guy had created far too many laws for Remus' liking. Irritatingly, he couldn't seem to get past the introduction.

"Sirius," Remus finally said as the broom was triumphantly extracted from under a pile of Peter's clothes, "I expect I already know the answer, but have you started this potions essay?"

"I've got all day tomorrow!" Sirius said carelessly, as he hoisted the broomstick over his shoulder.

James grabbed him by the arm impatiently and started dragging him towards the door, muttering to himself anxiously. He really didn't want to make a bad impression on his first real day in charge of the team.

"Why don't you leave it for now and come and watch try-outs?" Sirius called over his shoulder as he was pulled rather roughly down the stairs.

Remus extracted himself from his nest of books and parchment and followed them as far as the stairs. "I want to get this essay done so I can do all the transfiguration homework tomorrow," he called after Sirius. "Good luck though!"

Sirius grinned at him before clambering out of the portrait hole after James. Remus supposed he didn't really need luck, both because James was bound to choose him for the team and because he had, apparently, become an excellent beater from all the practice he'd had over summer. Despite the inevitability of it though, Sirius was likely to be so pleased about getting the position that he would have to tell everyone in the common room about it at least twice, Remus included. It was therefore best that he get the essay done before try-outs were over – except he still had no idea what to write.

Sighing, he went back into the dormitory and gathered up his books and writing equipment, piling them all inside his bag. He hoped he'd have better luck at the library; maybe he was just looking in the wrong books.

But when he got there, it was already packed, mostly with other sixth and seventh years. He circled the desks twice before concluding that there was someone sitting at every single table. He supposed he could have gone back to the common room, but it had been loud when he'd left and the cosy armchairs in front of the fire always made him want to nap instead of do work.

Warily, he went over to the only other Gryffindor sixth year he'd spotted, who was leaning over a sheet of parchment that was already nearly filled with her neat, curly handwriting. "Uhm," he said, putting his hand on the back of the chair opposite her. "Lily? Can I sit here?"

Lily jumped slightly, not having noticed anyone approach until Remus was already hovering in front of her, looking hopeful. Thankfully, she was almost done with her Potions essay, but she had a pile of other homework to contend with, not to mention hallways to patrol that evening.

Remus looked like Lily felt: stressed. He was wearing a thin jumper with small holes around the cuffs that he fiddled with as he waited for an answer. His eyes were wide and tired looking, as if he'd been staring at the something for far too long.

"Sure," she said, gesturing for Remus to take the seat; his obvious frustration quelled her feeling of unease about potentially being the victim of a prank.

She'd never quite known how to act around Remus – the fact that he spent all his time with Sirius and James didn't exactly instil her with confidence, but he'd never come across as untrustworthy or immature. He always worked hard, and whenever their prefect duties overlapped he was pleasant to her.

"What are you working on?" she asked, putting her quill down and peering across the table at Remus' short paragraph. "Potions?"

"Yeah," Remus said, taking the seat with relief. He took his quill, ink and parchment from his bag and frowned at his introduction. "I haven't really managed to get anywhere with it though. How about you?" He glanced at the book open next to her and saw a diagram of a cauldron with several labelled ingredients around it.

"I just have the conclusion left," Lily said. She pushed the book Remus was trying to see over to his side of the table with a small smile. "Here. It took me almost an hour to find a book that was actually useful. I'm not cruel enough to put you through that."

She re-dipped her quill and finished off her essay with a few more concise lines about how simply mixing anecdotes would not be sufficient in curing blended poisons. Scrawling her name and the date across the top, she smoothed the parchment out and put it to one side, feeling extremely relieved.

Remus poured over the potions book, flicking back a couple of pages and finding a concise explanation of how to make antidotes that didn't make his head spin. "This is great," he said, looking up at Lily and smiling. "That's twice now you've saved me from the nightmare that is NEWT-level potions."

"I don't know how you ever get anything done with those friends of yours," she informed him.

She'd pulled out a transfiguration book and was already half way through a paragraph describing how to make an enchantment hold for prolonged periods. "I bet neither of them have started what McGonagall set and they'll still get at least Exceeds Expectations."

She shook her head, but softened slightly when Remus looked uncomfortable. "Mary's gone to try-outs too," she confessed. "So I'll probably be about for a while if you need any more help."

Surprised at the offer, and relieved at the change of topic, Remus smiled. "Thanks," he said as he dipped his quill into the inkwell and started his next paragraph.

* * *

><p>Try-outs were going better than expected. James hadn't wanted to kick anyone off the team and would have just recruited for the three positions that were open, but McGonagall had told him that he had to give everyone a chance, just in case he found someone better than last year's players. Luckily, no one wanted to be keeper except Marlene McKinnon, a seventh year who was already on the team, so the position had automatically gone to her.<p>

Chaser try-outs were a little more complicated since he already took up one of the positions and four people wanted the remaining two. Still, it had been pretty clear who the best fliers were.

"Alright," James yelled, and the group of Gryffindors that were gathered around him quietened down. "I've made my decision. You all flew well, but there can only be three chasers. This year they will be me, Benjy Fenwick, and Mary MacDonald."

There were a couple of woops from the chosen chasers and their friends before James hushed them again. "Okay, beaters next, listen up those of you who're trying out for that position. I know beaters are usually prized for their strength, but aim is also important. I don't want any injuries today, so instead of aiming for people, you'll be trying to hit the bludgers through the goal posts. I'm letting two bludgers out at once, and you'll have to keep track of both of them to make sure they don't hit anyone, okay? Kingsley, you're up first."

Kingsley nodded and mounted his broom, soaring up to the height of the goal posts with a bat in his hand. Once he was high enough, James told everyone to step back and released the bludgers. They rocketed straight up into the air, and within seconds Kingsley had hit them both. The first one was too high, but the second went through the left hoop before zooming back towards him.

James watched him for about five minutes before getting on his broom to help retrieve the bludgers and return them to the box. Kingsley had been on the team for as long as James had, and all his practice meant he'd almost certainly get one of the beater positions. James hoped that the second person who tried out wasn't as good, so that Sirius didn't have too much competition. He crossed his fingers, but he needed have worried; the girl was only a third year, and in five minutes she only got a bludger through the goal posts twice. At one point, she even lost track of one of the bludgers and it would have smacked Benjy Fenwick in the face if Kingsley hadn't pulled him out the way. James knew Sirius could do a lot better than that.

Sirius was quietly confident as he got on his broom, winking at James, who was poised to release the bludgers, before he took off into the air. Somewhere in the back of his mind the possible embarrassment of being beaten by a third year buzzed around his head, but he soon shook the feeling off, watching the two balls as they launched into the air before him.

Sirius had only been flying on the pitch a handful of times, more used to the open fields around James' house and aiming at carefully marked out targets between trees. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to get used to the change of scenery. Without really thinking about it, Sirius sped forward, ducking the first bludger and knocking the second towards the goal closest to him, where it flew through the goal with what he was tempted to think of as a menacing swoosh. Before it could rally back towards him, Sirius turned his attention to the other ball. Waiting until just the right moment, he swung his bat with as much force as he could, sending one bludger flying towards the other, where they crashed together and fell through two different hoops. Somewhere below him, Sirius heard a ripple of applause from the other players and smiled to himself. Glad not to have let James down, he raced back towards the centre of the pitch, preparing for his next hit.

James grinned as the bludgers swooped back towards Sirius and he knocked them through the hoops again. He was delighted that, when the five minutes were up, Sirius had managed to get the bludgers through the hoops as many times as Kingsley though admittedly at one point he was too busy being pleased with himself to notice the bludger that slammed into him. Still, even with a probably-dislocated shoulder he was able to hit the bludger as hard as it had hit him, which James thought was an admirable quality in any Quidditch player.

As the two of them rounded up the bludgers, James flew close to Sirius and gave him a thumbs up. "It's hard to tell, but I think you might just get on the team, mate."

"Don't know how wise the Captain is then," Sirius grinned, "or me for that matter, if I'm going to get hit every bloody game."

The two of them wrestled the bludgers back into their box for the final time, and James, to no one's surprise, announced that Sirius and Kingsley would be the team's beaters. Kingsley put a heavy hand on Sirius' shoulder as James gathered the potential seekers and realised the snitch.

"Good work," he said. Sirius flinched away as Kingsley raised his wand, but all he felt was a wave of warmth in his shoulder as he muttered a spell under his breath.

Rolling his shoulders back experimentally , Sirius found that the pain was completely gone. "Thanks!" he said, surprised. "Though a bit of warning next time, eh?"

Kingsley just laughed. "You won't be saying that when the other team's beater slams a bludger into your chest."

Sirius didn't know if he was joking or not. Kingsley seemed to have that effect on people. Turning his attention back to the team, Sirius saw everyone flying back down to the ground. In the few minutes that he'd been talking to Kingsley, someone had apparently managed to catch the snitch, though most of the audience seemed to have missed it.

The someone turned out to be a small, brown haired fourth year called Chloe, who stood in the centre of her much larger teammates with a huge grin, holding out the golden winged ball to James, who looked extremely impressed.

"Congratulations, Chloe," he said, patting her on the back. "You and everyone else who made the team make sure you all turn up to practice next Sunday, and I hope we'll see the rest of you supporting us at the first match of the year!"

As the others disbanded and began the trek back to the castle, Sirius helped James organise the abandoned school brooms and equipment that had been used during try-outs.

"Think we've got a chance?" he asked hopefully, dragging a crate of balls across the grass with one handle.

"Are you kidding?" James replied. Sirius couldn't see his face over the mountain of brooms in his hands, but he had the distinct impression that he was grinning. "We're going to win every match!"


	6. Chapter 6 - Slug Club

Chapter 6 – Slug Club

James had been the only one in the dorm when a third year boy had knocked on the door and nervously handed him a roll of parchment before scuttling back down to the common room. It was addressed to Sirius, but James tore off the ribbon anyway and sprawled out on Sirius' bed to read the letter; his own bed was covered in the contents of his trunk, which he'd emptied to find the exploding snap cards he was sure he'd packed.

The parchment was an invitation to one of the gatherings Professor Slughorn held every few weeks. James had been invited once too, but the only time he'd gone he and Sirius had got so bored of being told about other students' influential relatives that they'd set off a bunch of Filibuster Fireworks to entertain themselves. A lot of bangs and flashes and a small fire had resulted from it, so James had never received another invitation – which was quite a relief – but Sirius' family meant more to Slughorn than his tendency to blow things up when bored, so he had been invited to every single Slug Club meeting and kept having to make up excuses not to go.

Shoving the invitation into his pocket, James tipped his trunk upside down so that all the junk sitting at the bottom of it tipped out onto the floor. Some broken quills, a few dusty Every Flavour Beans, and what looked like a frog's brain from his old potions kit all spilled out around his feet. He frowned at the mess for a moment before triumphantly retrieving the exploding snap deck from underneath a wizard's hat he hadn't worn for about five years.

Back in the common room, he found his friends where he'd left them, sitting around a table spread with textbooks. Peter had been doing homework when James had left, but he had evidently given up as he was now making paper aeroplanes so that Sirius could levitate them towards the backs of other students' heads. Remus actually was trying to do homework, but as far as James could tell he was still staring at the same page of 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6' as he had been fifteen minutes ago.

James ducked to avoid one of the paper aeroplanes and sat down next to Sirius, chucking the invitation at him. "Slug Club tonight. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse than last time; I don't reckon he believed that you were too busy with homework to go."

Sirius uncurled the parchment and briefly read it.

"I said I'd go," he sighed, tossing it to one side. "Don't ask me why. The potions fumes must have gotten to me."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Remus said, sitting back in his chair and running a hand through his hair. "Just try not to hex Snape."

"Though if you do hex him, you might not get invited again," James pointed out.

Remus shook his head. "There will be plenty of other sixth years there to talk to. Lily's going, and I think that Alice girl from Hufflepuff got invited too."

"Lily's going?" James repeated.

"Yeah." Sirius replied, rolling his eyes at James' sudden interest. "And I don't think she'll be hanging around the Slytherins either. There's definitely something going on between her and Snape."

"By something," Peter cut in, "you mean..."

"She's avoiding him." Sirius clarified. "Shame you got yourself uninvited Prongs, you could have tried some more of those chat up lines on her."

"I thought you realised that the chat up lines were really not helping?" Remus said quickly, now completely ignoring the book in his lap.

"Doesn't matter," James said, grinning. "I'm not the one who got invited, so we're going to work with what we've got. Padfoot, you can talk to her, find out what's with her and Snape. And while you're at it, you might want to throw in a few comments about how handsome and charming I am."

"I'm sure that will go down really well. Hi Evans, didn't James look simply spiffing in his robes today, why don't you and he go on a date to talk about your sudden mutual dislike for Snivellus."

James scrunched up a spare bit of parchment and threw it at him. "Go on, Pads, you only have to go for a couple of hours."

"Fine." Sirius said. "I'll go. But if Lily hexes me it will be entirely your fault. What are you lot doing tonight anyway?"

"Well," James said, gathering up all the textbooks and dumping them on a spare chair. "We're going to spend our time playing exploding snap and doing absolutely no more homework. Right, Moony?"

"It seems I have no other choice," he replied solemnly. "There is absolutely no way I could walk over to that chair and get back my textbooks. I will be forced to play exploding snap all night. What a tragedy this is."

"Your life is almost as tragic as mine," Sirius grinned. "I must go and get dressed for all the free food and drink."

He sighed dramatically, waved once to his friends, and ran up the stairs to the dormitory.

* * *

><p>Sirius hadn't been sure what to wear. He'd contemplated just sticking his leather jacket on over a t-shirt, but that seemed a bit rude, and he didn't dislike Slughorn enough to purposefully wind him up. School uniform would look like he hadn't made an effort, but dress robes would look like he'd made <em>too much<em> effort. Usually, an occasion like this wouldn't warrant much thought, but the inevitability of a room largely filled with snobby purebloods irritated him.

In the end, he went for smartish muggle-like attire – a way to look half decent but also piss off those purebloods who hated muggle culture. The maroon shirt was a little long on him, considering he'd dug it out of the back of James' wardrobe, but it otherwise fit well. James never wore it, so he doubted he'd mind.

Slughorn's office was down on the sixth floor, and by the time Sirius arrived it was already swarming with other fifth-to-seventh years. There weren't that many people really, but they buzzed about, shaking hands and asking about other families' business as if they were 30, not 16. Slughorn was talking to a Ravenclaw boy and Slytherin girl over by the large dining table; Sirius didn't know their first names, but something at the back of his mind told him that they were cousins. Knowing his parents, they had probably been to Grimmauld Place at some point, but he'd all but forgotten them.

Looking around, he quickly realised that he knew very few people in the room. A little less than a third of the twenty of so people were sixth years, the majority being Slytherin or Ravenclaws. Scanning the room, Sirius saw Frank Longbottom, a seventh year Gryffindor, standing by the fire talking to two Slytherins. Behind them, sitting on an overstuffed brown sofa, sat Lily. She didn't look particularly at ease, glancing around now and then as if she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. Sirius darted past the other students to get to her, instantly flopping down next to Lily with a deep sigh.

"Are they always this... formal?" he asked with some concern. "No one's even insulted me, it's like they're adults."

"I'm surprised you came," Lily replied, raising an eyebrow at his clothes. "They're sizing each other up for the new year." She pointed discreetly to a Slytherin boy who was standing to the side of a group. "That's Wilkes, his father got fired from the ministry over summer; it was in the paper and everything. I'm surprised he was even invited back this year."

"He needs better friends," Sirius said, noticing how the boy was being excluded from the conversations around him. "What about you Evans, why aren't you gossiping with the high and mighty?"

"They're very dull really," she replied, sighing. "Most of them ignore me."

"So why are you here?"

Lily looked at him. "Why the sudden interest, Black?"

"Just friendly conversation!" Sirius grinned. "No need to be so hostile."

"I don't trust you." she replied. "Slughorn's decent, he lets me practice my potions in the classroom, and actually takes an interest in my family. How about you? I didn't actually believe you when you said you'd come."

"I'm a man of my word!"

Lily shook her head at him, making a 'hmmm' sound. She didn't reply, and Sirius didn't have any idea how to ask her about Snape without seeming like a nosy git. He didn't want her hexing him for doing James' bidding. Sirius spotted Slughorn again, this time talking to Frank about his mother, whom he'd apparently made the mistake of asking on a date when he'd been in his fifth year. Frank laughed a little too loudly at the story, attracting the attention of people nearby. The only person who didn't stop to peer over at them was a boy that Sirius had only just noticed, standing a few feet away with some other sixth years. Severus Snape was alternately glaring from him to Lily, looking as though he were about to launch himself at Sirius for daring to sit near her.

"I can't believe him," Lily said, more to herself than him. She bent her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Snape?" Sirius enquired. "What's the deal with you two anyway? I thought you were mates."

"You know what he's like," she told him, lowering her voice but sounding no less angry. "I don't want to talk to him but he just keeps staring and won't leave me alone. Not that you're much better."

Lily was glaring at Sirius as though the whole situation was his fault. True, James' treatment of Snape had led to their argument, but in Sirius' mind that was no reason for him to react the way he had to Lily.

"Evans," he said, "if you ask me, he's a no good-"

"I didn't ask you," she said. "Just leave it alone, Sirius."

"Ok," he said, holding his hands up defensively. "But if you need anyone to hex him-"

"I'm perfectly capable of hexing people myself. Just ask Potter."

Sirius blinked, but the small smile on Lily's face suggested a challenge rather than a threat. "I'm sure you are."

The room was almost full now, and Sirius suspected they'd be sitting down to whatever the house elves had put together soon. He wondered if he could get a drink first, but before he could get up, a girl appeared directly in front of him.

"Oh," Sirius said, surprised. "Hi."

"Hi," Alice replied. She could feel herself blushing as she looked between the two of them. "Uhm, I don't we don't really know each other, but I'd rather talk to you than anyone else here, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Lily said, smiling and shuffling over on the sofa to make room for her. "You're Alice, right?"

Relieved, she sat down between them. "That's me! I only just escaped from some seventh years who were quizzing me on my family tree – trying to figure out how a pureblood could possibly have parents with no fortune and no ministry connections, I think." She wrinkled her nose.

"I know the feeling; I think I nearly gave someone a heart attack earlier when I told them my parents are muggles."

"They're complete snobs," Alice said. "I almost wish I hadn't come. Have either of you been before?"

Lily nodded. "A few times, yeah."

They looked at Sirius, who shrugged. "Only once, but it didn't go very well. I nearly blew up some Slytherins with a firework."

Alice laughed and Sirius turned to look at her. He knew he probably ought to know who everyone in his year was by now, but he was never very good at remembering that sort of thing. Still, he recognised her round face and short chestnut hair. "Hey, aren't you the one who soaked the whole class last week in charms?"

She gave him a small grin. "Oops, yeah, the aguamenti spell is clearly not my greatest strength. But I got out of detention by saying my charm casting wasn't bad, just very enthusiastic."

"Indeed!" The three of them looked up at the booming voice to find Slughorn standing over them, smiling fondly. "I heard all about that little, er, accident in the staff room the same day Professor Kettleburn told me how excellent you are at Care of Magical Creatures; the highest OWL score ever achieved, most impressive!"

He beamed at Alice and she blushed again. "Thanks, Professor."

"And I see you've been talking to some other talented students of mine. Miss Evans has quite a gift for potions, you know. And Mr Black astonishes me every year with excellent grades."

"Well I am full of surprises, Professor," Sirius replied.

"Yes, quite," Slughorn said, most likely remembering the last time Sirius had attended the Slug Club. Sirius gave his best attempt at an innocent smile. "And your brother has been doing very well too, I'm quite certain he'll be a charming addition to my little club when he's old enough next year. A pity you weren't in Slytherin as well, Sirius, I would have been delighted to have the entire Black family in my house."

Sirius just shrugged and said nothing. Lily shot him a worried look, but before she could say anything, Frank appeared at Slughorn's side with a sulky-looking fifth year in tow. "Professor!" he said enthusiastically, "Ainsworth here really wants to tell you about his grandmother's third husband. Why don't you go and talk by the punch? It's giving off a quite alarming odour."

"Is it?" Slughorn asked, turning around quickly, "well then, come along Ainsworth, three now is it?"

Watching Slughorn walk away with relief, Frank plonked himself down on the arm of the sofa. "It gets worse every year," he said conversationally. "You should all save yourselves while you can."

"Why do you still come then?" Alice asked.

"My mum forces me," he sighed. "She wants me to know important people, but I've had quite enough of them."

Alice giggled. "I can't say I blame you," she said, craning her head around to look at Frank more clearly. She definitely recognised him from around the school, and could swear her roommate had told her how handsome he was. "It's my first time here – I'm not sure if we've met."

"I don't think so. I'm Frank," he smiled, awkwardly offering his hand for her to shake.

"Er," Alice replied, struggling to reach across Sirius to take it, "I'm Alice."

"Nice to meet you Alice. I take back what I said about getting out while you can."

Interrupting, Sirius coughed loudly and said "would you two like a moment alone to grope each other's hands, or shall we go and eat?"

"It's ready?" Alice asked, letting go of Frank's hand and looking away bashfully.

They both jumped to their feet, peering over at the table, which was now almost overflowing with full dishes. "The one good thing about the Slug Club is the food," Frank told her. "You have to try the casserole; Slughorn gets it made specially."

"Let's try and get four seats as far away from Slughorn as possible," Lily said, leading the way.

"And as close as we can to that massive turkey," Sirius added.


	7. Chapter 7 - Halloween

Chapter 7 – Halloween

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Remus said in dismay, slurring slightly due to the fact that Sirius had just shoved a set of false vampire teeth in his mouth.

James grinned and led the way into the classroom, his cape rippling behind him. About half of the Charms class had arrived before them and were already in their seats, unpacking their books and talking about the Halloween feast that night. Everyone looked around as the four of them walked in, which was unsurprising since they were the only people wearing costumes instead of school robes.

"I vant to suck your blood!" James and Sirius declared in unison, with Peter saying the words slightly delayed, like an echo. The three of them were all wearing capes and vampire teeth, though Sirius was the only one who'd cut off the high collar from some of his old dress robes and attached it to his cape. He'd also drizzled false blood down himself – and half of the dormitory in the process.

Remus shook his head, trying to suppress a smile, and sat down at his desk. He'd refused to wear a cape, but Sirius had made him promise to keep in the teeth at least until he was told to take them out, so he had to put up with their awkward shape in his mouth.

After pretending to bite other students on the neck, which made a few people laugh and just as many roll their eyes, the rest of them took their seats beside Remus.

Professor Flitwick arrived just as Sirius had managed, with some difficulty, to extract a textbook out of the inner pocket of his cape.

"Professor," he said as pleasantly as he could while wearing fake fangs, "I regret to inform you that your favourite student, Sirius Black, charming and handsome though he was, has been replaced by -" Sirius flared up the corners of his collar, framing his face as he reached a hand out dramatically and clasped James' shoulder, "Count Dracula!"

"I see," Flitwick said, mostly unsurprised by the antics as he climbed onto a stack of books at the front of the class. "Well as long as Count Dracula is able to practice non-verbal spells, I suppose he can stay. Along with his, er, fellow vampires."

"We'll try our best, Professor," James promised, "But the desire for blood may overwhelm us."

"Just stay in your seats," Flitwick replied wearily, "and try not to attack any of my students. Now, I trust you can all remember how to perform a basic levitation charm, which you learnt in your first year. I'm going to give you all a feather and I'd like you all to try that spell non-verbally. And no, saying the spell under your breath doesn't count."

Shrugging to himself, James grabbed four feathers from the pile at the front of the class and brought them back to the table for his friends. He'd already managed to pull off a few non-verbal spells last year, so he wasn't particularly concerned with the task.

"Vampires should not have to levitate things with their minds," Peter said solemnly as he pointed his want firmly at his feather. "They should be busy drinking the blood of the innocent."

"Right you are, Pete," Sirius nodded gravely. "See anyone around here who you'd like to drink?"

Peter glanced around curiously, as if genuinely considering the offer, before catching Flitwick's eye and returning his attention back to the immobile feather in front of him with a huff of disappointment.

"I can't concentrate," Remus said faintly from beside Sirius. He still had the vampire teeth in against his own better judgement, along with the splattering of blood on his chin that Sirius had accentually sprayed there earlier and completely 'forgotten' to mention. He pointed his wand at the feather and tried out the swish and flick motion that was now very familiar, but Peter was trying the exact same thing and their elbows clashed together. "Sorry, Wormtail," he said. "There's just no room to move. Maybe if I -" he got up from his stool and shuffled round to the other side of the desk, staring determinedly at his feather.

"Moony!" Sirius shouted suddenly. "Stop!"

But it was too late. Remus kept walking and Sirius quickly decided that he had no choice but to intervene. He threw himself over the desk between them with a cry, knocking Remus backwards into Flitwick's desk, which shuddered violently under the weight of the two boys.

"What the hell?" Remus asked, pulling himself away from Sirius as the class watched on with a mixture of horror and amusement. Books and trinkets from the desk had clattered to the floor around them, including an expensive looking crystal ball that had completely shattered.

"You were about to step into a patch of sunlight!" Sirius cried, gesturing to the square glow on the floor from the nearby window. "You'd have turned to dust in an instant!"

Before Remus could come up with a suitably sarcastic response, Professor Flitwick appeared at the side of them. "What have you done?" he demanded, looking from the boys on the floor, back to James and Peter, who were close by and grinning.

"He was just trying to protect our comrade," James tried to reason, while Peter nodded furiously behind him. "Preservation of the species is very important."

"Sorry Professor," Remus added quietly, as he finally managed to dislodge Sirius from on top of him and stand up. "We could fix your –

"No!" Flitwick interrupted, "I've had quite enough of vampires for today, thank you. The four of you can go to see Professor McGonagall about your new desire for bloodsucking and not-so-new habit of disrupting my class."

"Yes, Professor," Peter agreed, completely unperturbed by the opportunity to leave class early.

The four of them grabbed their things and headed out into the corridor. James glanced at his watch as the door shut behind them. "It's only quarter past nine," he said. "Have we ever been sent out of class that early before?"

"It's probably a new record," Peter said.

"One of our greatest moments." Sirius grinned and his vampire teeth nearly fell out. He pushed them back in and slung an arm around Remus' shoulders. "Cheer, up, Moony. It's Halloween, a day of costumes, good food and the sacrifices of virgins - all good things!"

"Human sacrifice is not actually on the list of my top ten favourite activities."

"Better than facing McGonagall," Peter said, pulling a face. "I bet she'll give us detention for a week."

"As long as it doesn't interrupt Quidditch practice, who cares, eh Padfoot?" They stopped outside McGonagall's office and James grabbed the door handle.

McGonagall was sat at her desk grading papers with a mug of warm tea in one hand and her quill in the other. She was probably glad to have the first period free, until she looked up and saw them.

Sirius watched in amusement as her eyes narrowed behind her glasses; she stood up from her desk and glanced between them as if she very well may be seeing things.

"I don't even want to ask," she said at length. "Disrupting class I presume?"

"If you can call our creative genius disruptive," James shrugged.

"Which would be downright soul-crushing," Sirius added, as both McGonagall and Remus sighed in unison.

"I can call it disruptive if it managed to irritate Professor Flitwick so much that he dismissed you within the first quarter of an hour."

"Pfft," Sirius said, wafting away McGonagall's statement easily, "details, details. It's not our fault that our craving for blood and the theatrical is under appreciated."

"Well unless you'd like to leave Hogwarts and start up a life in the theatre, I'm afraid you'll have to cope with me crushing your creativity. You can serve detention here at 8 o'clock tomorrow evening."

"But it's Halloween," James protested. "If you didn't expect us to be sent to your office at some point today, I'm personally offended that you don't seem to know us that well after all these years."

"I assure you I am completely unsurprised by your actions, Mr Potter, and I hope these costumes will be your only antics for the day. Please especially try not to blow up any pumpkins like last year. Now take off your costumes and perhaps you can overcome your dramatic tendencies by the time your second period classes start."

* * *

><p>After reluctantly going to the rest of his lessons in regular school robes, James was happy to be back in his cloak and vampire fangs. A lot of other people had dressed up for the feast, mostly those who had at least one muggle parent and were familiar with muggle traditions. James thought it was a shame that people from wizard families didn't tend to dress up for Halloween – though he for one had embraced the tradition as soon as he'd heard about it from Remus – as it was an incredible sight to walk into the great hall and find the house tables filled with people in costume. There were first years who were adorably dressed as skeletons and ghosts, and older students who looked like mermaids, pirates, and several characters from muggle fiction; Remus explained that one girl was dressed as someone called Alice who had followed a rabbit down a hole for some reason.<p>

There was even someone dressed as a werewolf, which James had frowned at and Sirius had desperately tried to stop Remus from noticing by setting his cloak on fire and exclaiming that vampires burnt like paper. But Remus had seen the costume anyway and had only smiled and pointed out that the snout was much too long before extinguishing Sirius and settling down at the table.

"I never understand why pumpkins and Halloween are linked," said Peter as they sat down. He gestured towards the food around them. "Pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties, pumpkin pie. Why is that?"

"No idea," James replied, helping himself to everything on the table, pumpkin flavoured or not. "Maybe they just happen to be the right shape and size to carve spooky faces onto them, and the tastiness is an added bonus."

Lily had been working on her costume for the better part of the term. Whenever she had a spare minute in between classes, homework, her friends, and her prefect duties that was. She loved Halloween. Ironically, when she was a little girl, both she and Petunia had, more often than not, dressed up as witches with long pointed fingers, wrinkly noses and black hats. Witch costumes didn't seem to exist in the costume shops of the wizarding world, so that tradition had been lost back when she was 11. Last year she'd dressed up as fairy along with the other girls in her dorm, but this year she had decided to make her own outfit.

A lot of the material had been left over from her mother's sewing supplies at Christmas, and since it was mostly red, Lily had decided to make a devil costume. She was proud of the red satin dress with spiked points around her knees, the elbow length gloves, the mask that wrapped around her ears, and especially the sparkly red devil horns that she'd managed to make with wire and sequins.

Not that she'd go around wearing it to her classes, no matter how proud she was. She wasn't a complete show off – not like certain people.

After perfecting her makeup and throwing on some black fishnet tights to complete her look, Lily headed down to the great hall with her friends, excited for the feast and festivities that would inevitably follow.

James had just begun eating when the Gryffindor girls from their year walked past. His eye was caught by the bright red of a girl's dress, and he gazed with admiration at where the material clung to her body and where it had been cut short to reveal her long legs. Her face was hidden behind a devil mask, but her dark red hair, only a shade different from her dress, was distinctive. "Is that Evans!?" he said through a mouthful of mashed potato, elbowing Sirius in the ribs.

Sirius looked up just as the girls sat down a few seats away. "Damn," he said. "I think it is. I never realised how completely out of your league she is, mate."

The boys watched as Lily and her friends crowded together a little way down the table, laughing and talking together as they reached for the nearest food and drink.

Lily poured herself some pumpkin juice and reached for a pasty. Honestly, the abundance of pumpkin flavoured treats at Hogwarts had initially been off-putting to her, but she had grown rather fond of them over the years.

"Potter's staring at you," Mary said from next to her, pointing not so discreetly down the Gryffindor table. Lily followed her gaze, rolling her eyes as she was met with the unabashed grin of James Potter. "I see you're in your costumes again," she said dryly. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

"Just appreciating the view," he replied cheerfully. "You look, er, devilishly good tonight."

Lily stared at James. "That was awful," she said unapologetically. "That was the worst pun I've ever heard in my life. And considering the lot of you seem to spew them out every other sentence that's saying something."

"The appropriate response was to tell me I look drop-dead gorgeous, but I'll let you off." James continued to grin, and beside him Sirius snorted and nearly choked on a mouthful of pie.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Lily asked, leaning across the table so she was slightly closer to James and inclining her head to one side. The mask on her face was making her a little too warm in the crowded hall, and she tugged it into a more comfortable position. "Considering vampires are the complete opposite of teenage boys, I'd have thought you'd have gone for something that didn't stop all your," he looked pointedly down towards James' lap, which was full of crumbs, "circulation."

She drew back, smirking as Remus laughed into his juice and James' wide eyes followed her. He opened and closed his mouth, obviously flustered.

Lily just raised an eyebrow at him behind her mask and shrugged innocently.

"I feel it is my duty to inform you on his behalf that my dear friend James Potter is currently having an internal meltdown," Sirius said, smirking, "But please wait and he will be able to respond shortly."

James elbowed him again and gave Lily what he hoped was a winning smile. "I see that costume is corrupting you, Evans," he said, "Which is possibly why you seem to be warming to me. Maybe enough to want to hang out later?"

"You wish, Potter," she said with a smirk. "But I appreciate your obviously conviction in my demonic possession." She winked once and turned back around to her friends, who immediately huddled into a tighter group, whispering and giggling as they ate.

James turned to Sirius, a slightly dazed expression on his face. "You're right," he said. "She is totally out of my league."


End file.
